Need opinions on my diet

[Patrick Yeung]

Okay, fair enough. Just know, its hard to do two things at the same time. If you want to lose fat, youre not gonna be making much in strength gains. If you want to make strength gains, youre gonna put on fat.

You may need to just suck it up and know your squat will suffer till you can get to your weight, where youll be able to start lifting heavy again with the needed calories.

[Derek Weaver]

Emily,
Why not give Lyle's recommendations a try?

At the least you may be able to help reset leptin and get things moving again.

Read his article series on body weight regulation when you get a chance.

[Grissim Connery]

the most dramatic weight loss i ever had was back when i worked in the bulk section at wild oats supermarket. just moving bags of oats and boxes of nuts all day in addition to biking to and from work took the pounds off ridiculously fast. i was still working out and training bjj, but when this got thrown into the mix, i dropped about 30 pounds in 1 summer.

if you're body is falling apart, reevaluate your metcons.

if you've ever studied the keys semi starvation study, a lot of those guys went on diets around 1800 kcal a day. they ended up looking like holocaust victims. when i played with a diet around/lower than those numbers, i carried on well for a while. and then i would eventually cave in and have a ravenous binge. if i worry too much about dropping calories, then i end up thinking about food all day everyday. your own will power can only go so far before your body takes over. eat some more fat and protein if your body is telling you to do so.

if you desperately wanna be tiny, join a cross country team. i hate those gross kids.

[Emily Mattes]

Originally Posted by Grissim Connery

if you desperately wanna be tiny, join a cross country team.

God, no.

I know I'm not going to get as much out of this squat cycle as I could--it is unfortunate it is programmed into my training as I'm trying to cut. I'm just trying to make the best of it. So how's this sound: up the calories and protein and focus on pre- and post-workout nutrition for my weightlifting workouts. I'll add in some fasted walks in the morning, and will try upping the carbs 30g or so for a week or two and see where that gets me, cycling them down occasionally. Re-evaluate energy levels in about two weeks. I figure the only problem with this plan is increasing carbs and calories create confounding factors so it will be difficult to pinpoint which one is making the difference (if there is one) but I can always drop the carbs back for another week or two to see whether that's making the difference or not.

[Gittit Shwartz]

That sounds like a plan... for gaining.

Seriously, why can't you drop the squat cycle if your goal is fat loss?

Grissim, the starvation diet subjects were on 1800 calories coming almost exclusively from carbs.

[Mike ODonnell]

Originally Posted by Emily Mattes

I've been reading a lot at Body Recomposition, and Lyle McDonald recommends protein pre- and post-workout and carbs post-workout to dieting athletes in order to preserve muscle mass. He also recommends higher carb levels (using his calculations I should be getting 80-100g) for strength/power athletes. Should I listen to that? Do the fasted workouts? Do fasted NEPA in the morning and then eat for my main workout at night?.

Pick one strategy and just do it for 2 weeks without thinking about anything else....see the results, see how you feel...try tweaking something if you want....make it a personal learning process and you'll never have weight problems again. Keep trying to find the "best" way with too much reading and not taking action...get nowhere and will drive you nuts.

[Patrick Yeung]

Originally Posted by Gittit Shwartz

That sounds like a plan... for gaining.

Seriously, why can't you drop the squat cycle if your goal is fat loss?

Grissim, the starvation diet subjects were on 1800 calories coming almost exclusively from carbs.

Second that.

[Jane Michel]

Originally Posted by Allen Yeh

I'm leaning towards more longer slow activities like the NEPA walks advocated by the V-diet. When I went to Disney for a week in November I lost more than 5 pounds despite not having trained for a week+ and not eating the best of things on a daily basis. It was a ton of walking, I'm somewhat curious as to how many total miles I must have put in that week. FWIW I've always been someone who gained weight rather fast and easily rather than one of those people that lose weight without trying.

+1 for NEPA walks. I drop weight when on a holiday overseas with little or no access to weights, clean food and heaps of walking.